Not your average chain restaurant, I find Cheddars interior far more inviting than most comparable restaurants. They've got a large dining room and pretty big bar area so you usually get sat right away. In my most recent visit I sat at the bar, it took the bartender a bit to get our menus or acknowledge us but we could tell she was busy and she made up for it with her kindness and great recommendations. Not a lot of beer on draft which is what I typically prefer so I went with a cocktail, it was quite refreshing. The value is one of the best things this place has going for it, you get a lot of food for what you spend. I've been a few times prior to being a Yelper so unfortunately I only have a few photos but I'm sure I'll be back soon so I'll be sure to snap more! Nachos, and Honey Mustard chicken sure hit the spot! read more

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We had a nice dinner at Cheddars - the environment is always nice in a casual way. Our server greeted us promptly with the warm, flaky croissants - delicious! We did not know we would be receiving the croissants, thus we had also ordered the coconut shrimp with the pain killer sauce - made me reminisce about Mexico! So yes the above was great - when we went to order I was told my selection was not available (chicken pot pie) -darn! So I went with the original burger. I don't order burgers much at restaurants and this reminded me as to why - it was fairly bland - felt like I needed to add salt or pepper or some sort of seasoning. Thus the whole time I was wishing I had something else. My husband had the breaded chicken sandwich and thought that it too was bland and lacking flavor. Overall it was good - just not blown away by our entrees! read more

Update: we went back and had the best service. Seated in a timely fashion. Are food was delicious and cooked to perfection. Server was courteous and respectful. The chef was cordial and helpful. Must say it was way better this time around than we expected. Thank you for the great date night and great food. We definitely will be going back. Steaks were delicious. The honey butter croissants were scrumptious. Cheesecake was velvety and creamy. Cocktails were strong but yummy. Overall. Glad we went back. Thank you for making it right. read more

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We ordered the pot pie. It was pretty good however the broccoli casserole we ordered was cold. The ice tea was cloudy and tasted bad. The waitress said that's how their tea looks. Our table was sticky and the waitress said it's because the finish is off the table. If that was the case why did they sit us here? There were only about 5 tables in use. It just seemed to not be what I expect from cheddars as I have diner there before read more

I stopped in for supper. The place was pretty busy but not overly crowded. I asked to be seated at the bar since I was by myself. The bartender was nice and got my order right away. The atmosphere was intimate. Dark and natural finishes. But clean, simple and tasteful. The menu had a variety of dishes. Burgers, salads, fish, American and cultural favorites. I ordered the chicken pecan salad. My salad came out in around 5 minutes. It looked amazing. It was a nice portion loaded with freshly grilled chicken breast, glazed pecans, cheddar cheese, grape tomatoes, crisp greens and a delicious croissant. I was not disappointed. Ate ever last bit of it. My total check was 12.50 with drink and entree. I was in and out in less than 30 minutes. read more

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So a couple things... 1. The restaurant was packed as it is the day before Christmas Eve and it was busier than a normal Monday. We had about a 15 minute wait to be seated. 2. There was a family with a toddler and a young child who came in after myself and my family and the female lost her mind on the hostess as she felt she should have been sat ahead of everyone else who is waiting due to the fact she has children. With that being said...I would just say that this was one of THE most amazing meal and service I have ever had at a Cheddars! Carly the manager/hostess handled the crowd amazingly and hustled! She calmly explained to the entitled lady that everyone had to wait their turn. She cleaned tables, sat people, and did it all with a smile on her face! Then our waitress Jeanna was wonderful! She apologized for our wait but the food was hot and delicious and we never went without drinks. I am such a fan and not to mention that the food was very high quality and delicious! I will gladly go back again not only for the food but for the amazing service! Highly recommended! read more

Service here is about as bad as the pest control! This bug in picture crawled up on our dipping sauce when we was done! Server was nice, but she never came around and refilled our drinks! Plus the silverware was not clean! read more

Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen - Comfort Food Near Me - Coralville, Iowa

Tbh This place is the worst, food good drinks good, but you know what can take everything and more away from that, Bad customer service ive tried to eat here 3 times called the manager F**king Kyle and they say they don't take reservations I wasn't looking for a reservation I wanted my name down on the wait list for a table so I wouldn't drive all the way down there have to sit in their shitty parking lot overlooking the highway on a hot muggy day, don't tell me there's an hour to an hour and a half wait if you can't put me on a wait list... idk if I said it well enough but f**k this place read more

Phenomenal experience. Food was fast, fresh, and hot. The service was very kind and helpful. You must order the Island Tiki! read more

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Disappointing experience. Picture says it all. Cold, dry lasagna and gross Mac and cheese - clearly over microwaved. This is the worst Mac and cheese by far..Bad food, but great service from Taylor! read more

Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen - Disappointing experience. Overcooked dry pasta, and cold Mac & cheese. Clearly was microwaved. Gross food, but amazing service from Taylor! - Comfort Food Near Me - Coralville, Iowa

It was excellent. Reminded me of The Elephant Bar in Santa Barbara CA. Fantastic service, unreal portions, delicious, and at the 1/3 of what you would pay in CA. If you have one near you, GO. I was on a business trip and took 5 customers to lunch 3 days in a row. 6 people, appetizers, big salad, and a huge entree, soft drinks for everyone and we all got cookies the first day. less that $100 each visit. Easy on the expense report too. read more

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Cheddar's is just your average priced comfort food restaurant. I love it here because it doesn't feel like your wasting money on average food. The food is REALLY good. The croissants are so good I could eat them as a meal. I have ordered lots of meals at Cheddar's and haven't had a bad meal yet. The last time I was there I got the Lemon Pepper Chicken. It was nice and easy to slice. It made me feel... comforted. I had Broccoli and corn as my sides. There was a LOT of broccoli and a very small cup of corn, which disappointed me. The service was good, but not spectacular. Overall Cheddar's is a good restaurant that I would highly recommend. read more

Horrible, Horrible Horrible. Service here is non existent. Was seated, got waited on and then sat there over 30min waiting for our drinks. Had to ask for our server as he seemed to have vanished from the floor.Never got appetizers we ordered. Food was ok, but nothing out of this world. We had issues before Covid with service here and since Covid is defiantly isn't any better. We won't be back ever and I see in time this establishment closing as they just suck. Why you ask. Because if they actually cared, they would of had a manager walk around asking how things where, which we never saw. I guess the manager hates his job also. read more

Went out to eat as a family and now one person is eating in the car since they messed up the order 2 times and is now on the third meal. We tipped 15% but we regret and decided we shouldn't have tipped at all. Although serves was absolutely terrible the fries were pretty good. read more

Cheddars is best summed up as mediocre, the food can be decent but is inconsistent. I have been there three times, one time was fairly good, the second was awful and the third was also pretty bad. I have a pretty strong stomach but this place always seem to make my stomach regret coming there. read more

Was there 4:45 on a Sunday place was practically empty Hostess said it would be a five minute wait. Ate my whole meal never did server come by to ask how things were or to refill our drinks and after we paid with thing at table did she come around to ask if we needed anything for dessert, I mentioned our drinks and she said she was busy with 21 people and I said are you the only server, every time we go there the service is horrible,food not that great read more

I was on a little road trip with the kids and we were looking for a place to eat dinner. We saw Cheddar's and decided to stop. Food was decent. Waitress was friendly. My kids were impressed with the decor lol. They had these giant fans in the main room they were in awe of. Found something everyone liked and it was reasonably priced. My son even got a steak dinner for around $10. Not too shabby! I'd say on the slightly better end as far as chain restaurants go. I'd go here again. read more

The food was good and the prices are quite reasonable. My server was nice and extremely efficient. Nice building with great textures and even a giant aquarium. Scratch means that it is all prepared right there and not from a factory. read more

I visited Ceddar's tonight around 6:30pm. I was in town for business and have been to other Cheddar's before (which I loved) so I figured it was a safe bet. I sat at the bar as I was alone and there was a wait for tables. The Good: Drinks - I ordered a Maker's Mark and Coke. It was decently strong and priced; $5.75ish. Food - I had bourbon glazed salmon, rice, broccoli, and a cup of chicken tortilla soup. I will get into the accuracy of my order later on, but once my food arrived it wasn't bad. The taste of the food is the only reason I gave one star, not to mention I can't give zero stars. The Bad: Service, Service, Service: I ordered miso glazed salmon which comes with rice and broccoli. I also ordered a cup of chicken tortilla soup. The bartender asked if I wanted the soup first and I said yes. 30 minutes later I receive a plate with salmon on a bed of rice; that's it. The bartender said my soup would be out shortly. I asked her where the broccoli was and to just cancel the soup. She said she misheard me and though I ordered bourbon salmon. Miso, bourbon...sounds the same to me as well. If I had ordered the bourbon salmon it comes with rice and two sides, so there is still no explanation for the lack of side items. My soup arrived anyways a few minutes later. A few minutes after that I received a side of broccoli. So I was still short a side from the "mistaken" order, but I wasn't charged for the soup so I let it slide. There was a couple at the bar waiting for a to go order. They waited 45+ minutes while the employees repeatedly asked each other where and what the order was. All of this discussion was in front of said couple who could clearly hear them. The bartender asked any employee who would listed where bloody mary's were in the system. I'm not sure if it was to determine the ingredients or to charge for it. Either way, it's a common drink so I was shocked. An employee who appeared to be a chef (given the black chef jacket covered in...flour?) came behind the bar and began making drinks. He was making a margarita and kept asking the bartender what next, what next until the drink was presumably finished. I'm glad that was not my order. The manager made a brief appearance behind the bar and he appeared as clueless as the rest of the employees while trying to figure out the computer system and what customers were supposed to be receiving change. The bartender stated no less than five times that she was out of quarters. I was there an hour and no quarters arrived. Thankfully I live out of town so I won't be tempted to eat here again. But the service here sorely tarnished the Cheddar's name in my mind from previous locations I have visited. read more

It's hard to find a good restaurant these days. Usually you get so-so service, increasing prices, and small portions. Not so at Cheddar's. The food, the portions, the prices, and the service...all excellent. FOOD: The menu has something for everyone. It was all very well done. Salads were fresh and well-balanced. Chicken was cooked to perfection, not overly fried. Barbecue sauce was good. French fries were satisfying. Cheese dip for the nachos was surprisingly good. The onion rings get their own paragraph here, because they were quite possibly the best onion rings I've ever had. And I'm a stickler for onion rings. They're battered -- not breaded -- with some added flavor in the batter. Wonderful. And a rather enormous serving size, which is surprising given that an order is, if I recall, less than 5 dollars. It's worth stopping here for the onion rings alone. Our party of 6 was very pleased with every dish and every appetizer. PORTIONS and PRICING: Free refills on soft drinks. Great. Portions are quite generous, and which makes the pricing even more surprising. The "lunch" size of the country fried steak was what I'd normally expect of a dinner-sized portion. The salads were quite large -- truly meals in and of themselves, as one would hope -- and the french fries served on the side were quite plentiful. Basically, I hate going to restaurants because I always feel ripped off. Cheddar's, on the other hand, with its fantastic portions and quality, is the first place I've been to in a while that I actually left *happy*. SERVICE: On a busy Friday night, we didn't even have to ask for refills. Our waiter noticed our drinks getting low and brought out refills without asking before we bottomed out. There were a couple of mistakes made -- wrong salad, missing salad dressing and sauce -- but the service was quick and attentive. Though I can only vouch for our particular waiter, the service was never fake and formal, but was personal and genuine. I'd much rather some personality in my server over someone who can't do better than "Yes, sir" and "Sorry about that, ma'am". The one bad note is that the manager seemed to be quite angry. He was standing in the kitchen doorway yelling at people in view of the customers, and the staff seemed eager to stay and talk to customers for as long as possible to avoid him. I'm not sure if something was going wrong that night or if the manager is just one of those guys who shouldn't be given any power, but our experience was wonderful and certainly didn't merit any staff getting yelled at. OTHER THOUGHTS: This place is almost always busy. We were fortunate enough to only wait ~25 minutes on a Friday night, but some weekends the wait is an hour and a half. Plan accordingly. We came here to introduce family to a friend, and even on a busy Friday night, we are able to have a conversation comfortably and without having to yell across the table. It's a casual place that's also nice enough to bring business contacts. As for what the one-star reviewers have said, it seems that Matthew H. perhaps suffered largely because of the bumpy opening hours. Both reviewers complained about getting the wrong food -- something we also experienced. However, I can't understand where D C. got the "horrible food" idea from. The food was better than "good" -- it was truly great. I would be *excited* to eat here again. But the complaints about wrong orders, delayed service, and the like are certainly valid concerns and could understandably ruin a dining experience. I have no idea how common these issues are, since I've only eaten at this restaurant once. SUMMARY: Great food in large portions at low prices, in a comfortable atmosphere with great service. Yeah, it's that good. There's a reason this place is always busy. read more

Very solid place to eat. Place was packed and the service was still quick and professional. All smiles and looked happy to be there. Food was very good. Wife loved the onion rings and shes not a huge fan of rings. Baked spagzagna was awesome Infused teas were awesome. Mango and peach were both spot on. read more

Cheddars is always a great place to go whether you are with your friends, family, or on a date. A big group of my friends and I went there for dinner and were seated quickly. We were all craving good American food at a decent price. Our waitress was great and was constantly coming back and forth to help with whatever we needed. Many of us were looking for a nice alcoholic beverage on this beautiful evening and the ones we ordered all tasted delicious, even though they were higher on the price range. The food came out fairly quick and everything tasted great. I ordered the sirloin steak which comes with two sides for a great deal. It's what I get every time and it usually never disappoints, but the steak this time was a little more cooked than the medium rare I ordered. Overall I'd say, if you want to get away from the typical Iowa City crowd and want some fairly cheap food at a "fancier" restaurant, you should head to Cheddars in Coralville. read more

Great place that I wish was still in Des Moines. Their honey glazed croissants are still to die for. Most everything on their menu is superb from their chicken tenders to shrimp to wraps to ribs. I can't forget to mention that their cheese curds are some of the best in the area. Sometimes service is fabulous while other times lackluster. The food is consistently finger licking good. read more

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I read previous reviews and figured I would try it for myself, and as far as I'm concerned, trust the reviews. The only thing 'casual' about this restaurant is the service and management, they are nothing to write home about unless you are upset with it. We were seated quickly but then promptly waited 20 minutes before any server came to our table to take a drink order, and when he did come he stated it wasn't even his table but he just saw us sitting there for so long (not sure if it's true or just a cover up, but either way it's a horribly long wait). We ordered an appetizer of onion rings which took an additional 20-30 minutes to come out, in fact they came out WITH our food. Food was alright, or maybe we were just so hungry by the time it finally came out that it just tasted ok at that point. Either way great food doesn't un-ruin the experience caused by the poor service. There were 2 managers walking around with no way of telling who they were (no nametags) besides asking someone. They just hovered around the bar area chatting and laughing with employees and friends the whole time, never went around to tables to inquire about their experience. Poor Management breeds poor service. read more

This is probably the the worst restaurant that ever eaten. I'm sorry ppl i have nothing good to say about this restaurant. Starting from the waitress been racist with no respect, and to the food they serve with flyers in them and had worst taste of all times. It's the worst. Fyi, i am a Asian male and my friend was black girl. read more

Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen - See whats inside the glass. - Comfort Food Near Me - Coralville, Iowa

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I was a little nervous about coming here after reading the negative reviews, but... LOVED the crispy chicken salad - the chicken seemed freshly fried, hand battered, and extra crispy! LOVED the honey buttered croissant! LOVED the low prices! LOVED the decor and ambiance at night! All wins for us! read more

Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen - Yummy Crispy Chicken Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing. - Comfort Food Near Me - Coralville, Iowa

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Wow! What terrible service! Terrible food to boot! What do you expect for another cheap Americana big box yuppie joint I guess. My family dragged me to this place, and honestly I was a little curious after I've heard people raving about it like it was some damn gourmet restaurant. How classy or gourmet could a place called cheddar's be? They sure went to great lengths to see that the building was done well. The wood work is very nice, and the African cichlid tank is very well done. The drinks are strong and that's where the good ends. It took us 1 hour to get our salads! 1hr 40mins to get our food. Under cooked fish, basically raw, over cooked steak, well done when asked for medium rare, wrong sides, missing sides, forgot about drinks, and all after such a long wait. The manager comped most of our meal for 6 which was left mostly uneaten, and then had the tenacity to leave some 12$ and change on there! Wtf? At that point why not comp the whole damn thing? I definitely won't be going back. Even if they could guarantee good service, their menu is pretty bland/basic. I guess if you like Applebee's/Chili's sort of food. .... knock your self out, roll the dice, good luck. read more

Waited over 15 minutes for waters or anyone for that matter to come to the table . Enough said. I walked out. Monday night at 7:30 embarrassing for a restaurant. Extremely limited menu no reason to spend any money here. Nobody inside and couldnt get a drink. My goodness. read more

Cheddar's is a place I've frequented before when I was in Texas. I always thought that it was decent and not a terrible place to grab a less-than-complicated bite to eat. For this particular location: The portion sizes are pretty immense, much akin to Texan portions. The food is still pretty much just averagely decent. However, the staffing/service is terrible. The first two visits were pretty average in terms of service and I was pretty indifferent. However, the last time was an incredibly poor experience. I arrived around 7:30 PM, which on that day, was after a dinner rush. Whew. We were sat in the bar area and our server was nowhere to be found. We sat there for about 10 minutes, trying to catch the attention of 3-4 different servers that walked past us, meeting eye contact, but to no avail. They all ignored us. Finally, we got one to stop and he brought us some water. He was pretty polite and cordial and said he'd find our server. Another 10 minutes later, our server, who happened to be one of the ones that passed us many times hurriedly grabbed our order without apologizing for his delay. When we got our food, my bacon cheeseburger was missing bacon, which I let him know. He quickly went to the back and got two slices of bacon for me. The order should've had four... Really what is bothersome of this place is how everyone ignored us. One server whose attention I caught, stared at me in the eye and proceeded to walk into the back while staring at me. At least three of the servers bullshitted loudly near the bar with the bartender and a person who looked like the manager. Yikes. This place is pretty lucky it has the name Cheddar's to it and that it's one of the few "new" places to eat. read more

They brought our ticket out (2 entrees + 3 sides) within five minutes so it was clear everything was just microwaved and dumped on a plate. Pros: chicken fingers and pot pie tasted ok, pot pie crust was good; salad was crunchy and refreshing in all the right ways, mini croissants were above par for American croissants Cons: chicken fingers and shrimp were cold, shrimp came with some gross sauce that tasted like everything in my grandmas candy bowl melted down and mixed with shitty bourbon, broccoli casserole was the Holy Grail of broccoli casseroles in that I had to quest for my vegetables like Lancelot for the Holy Grail, southern style green beans were slimy and limp Overall, I would sum up my experience as: I did not get food poisoning. $20/two people so that's something, but for that price I recommend just getting fast food that isn't fronting as a sit down place read more

I've waited a while before I reviewed this place, cuz had I reviewed it the night we ate they would have received no stars. If I had that option and my review would have been flagged I'm sure. I'll review my meal only cuz I think I had the best dining experience. Our wait to be seated was over an hour and a half. We talked about leaving several time and wished we had. Once seated our waitress seemed attentive, but it was just a show. Sodas and water were slow to the table. Refills we're almost non existent. I ordered a specialty drink Spiked Cherry Limeaid. It's was well worth the twenty minute wait and the only shiny item to make it to our table, however not worth a return visit. I ordered the Blackened Red Fish with a Crab sauce. The fish was dry and I had to ask for the crab sauce, which by the way has no crab in the sauce, right what the hell? One of my two sides never made it to the table, tho I did ask wheres my Mac and Cheese three times. Which was fine cuz if it tasted anything like the home made black beans I probably wouldn't have eaten it anyway. Not sure what made these bean homemade, but they sure taste like canned black beans I often serve at home. If your name includes "scratch" I feel everything should be of the not ready made variety. Cheddar's misses the mark on this. It's not scratch, it's not appetizing, it's not worth the money I paid. We need our ticket separated into three tickets. An impossible task for our waitress. We just ended up paying the bills after returning them three times and settling between ourselves. It was close to our hotel there's a plus I guess. read more

Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen - Comfort Food Near Me - Coralville, Iowa

They must have had a rocky start. We had lunch there today and three of us all got pretty good food. I had the half-rack of ribs, which were great. The cole slaw was OK but my mother-in-law loved it. Prices were lower than expected compared to some of the other corporate restaurants in the area. It does have an odd presentation, with the front door facing the interstate, so driving up you have to look at the back end of the building. Anyway, we were pleasantly surprised. read more

Two and a half years in they've finally gotten their act together. I actually enjoyed the food. Their country fried chicken is moist and flavorful. I love their catfish. Burgers are acceptable (though paying extra for fries??). Steak is done well and has plenty of flavor. Their cheese fries are delicious. Service is immeasurably better. All in all Cheddars has become a place I enjoy going. read more

A one star says it all with this place. They have good food but horiable service. I wouldn't recommend this restaurant to anyone. The management is bad and just walks around and acts like there doing something. .. read more

Amazing ambiance, fine food, bad name. We were really excited to check this place out when it opened. When we entered the restaurant I was even more excited. Beautiful decor and cool thematic sections really give the restaurant the feel of a place you just want to explore. Wait staff was high quality and courteous, no complaints there. The food though, it was just OK. I got some sort of chicken dish with mushrooms and I don't know if it was the presentation, ingredient quality or just the taste but it felt homogenized, like it was the same meal I could have gotten at fifteen other places across the city. I actually felt vindicated when I saw all the 3-star reviews here, because it made me feel like I wasn't crazy. The issue may be that the restaurant itself is too pretty for its own good, which leads to disappointment when the food doesn't match up. And briefly, I'm not a one to tell a man what to name his business, but "Cheddar's"? If they called it "The Brickfire Grill" they could charge 20% more and no one would blink. read more

A place we definitely will come again! The side black bean, a bit spicy taste, oh i already begin to miss it. My husband and i both ordered combination. No place for dessert! How sad! We will manage this next time. read more

Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen - Grilled salmon with black beans and steamed broccoli. Sorry, it just happened too soon. - Comfort Food Near Me - Coralville, Iowa

THe Last time I went the did not put honey butter in the croissants I am so deeply hurt and angry I have cried my self to sleep for two months after this I will not be going back ever again I am about to cry my self to sleep another night after this anyways I ate a very good salad from Panda Express yesterday and I ruined it with my tears from crying over this experience also I tripped and stubbed my toe in the revolving door and it hurt more like cheddars trash kitchen read more

This wasn't a good meal. Both my sides were cold . My steak I ordered medium well came to me as medium rare. Told my server she brought the manager over. He had a new steak cooked for me. It also came back medium rare. The manager comped my meal half price. My first time their and my last time. read more

Comfort food in generous portions at reasonable prices. They haven't reinvented any wheels here, but the service was exceptionally friendly and prompt, and the food for very good for casual dining. The soda selection (Coke products) is larger than most, and had I saved room for dessert, I absolutely would have tried one of the many....they all looked delectable. You will never go wrong with the warm monster cookie sundae, though! Ask for 2 (or more) spoons! read more

Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen - New Orleans pasta, featuring smoked sausage, chicken, and shrimp. Flavorful with just the right amount of kick. - Comfort Food Near Me - Coralville, Iowa

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Very good food. Fast and friendly service. There Onion Rings are a must for an appetizer. The dessert was phenomenal! read more

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